"Mommy said a bad word!" Ethan announces cheerfully.
"Emma, please..."
"I'm your best friend!" Now she's yelling, her voice cracking. Ethan looks up, startled. "I'm your best friend, and you've been lying to me for months?"
"We didn't want to stress you out..."
"So you lied instead? That's better?" She's shaking, her whole body trembling with anger and betrayal. "I've been pregnant, terrified, my daughter was born two months early, and you've been lying to my face this entire time?"
"I'm sorry..."
"You're sorry?" She laughs, sharp and bitter. "You're wearing my father's pendant. Do you know what that means? Jackson doesn't give that to just anyone; he was supposed to give that to..." She stops and stares at me. "He loves you."
I can't lie anymore. "Yes."
"And you love him."
"Yes."
"How long?"
The question hangs in the air between us. "Since I was eighteen."
She staggers back like I hit her, one hand going to the wall for support. "Eighteen. You've been in love with my brother since you were eighteen and never said anything?"
"You're my best friend, he's your brother. I didn't want to..."
"To what? Trust me? Talk to me? Let me be part of your life?"
"Emma, it's not like that..."
"Then what is it like, Maya? Because from where I'm standing, it looks like you and Jackson decided I couldn't handle the truth, like I'm too fragile or too stupid to know what's happening in my own house."
Ethan starts whimpering, picking up on the tension. "Mommy mad?"
The front door opens. Jackson walks in, gym bag over his shoulder, sweaty from practice. He sees Emma's face, sees me frozen in the living room, sees the pendant visible against my shirt.
"Fuck."
Emma whirls on him. "You gave it to her."
"Emma..."
"You gave her Dad's pendant and didn't tell me?" Her voice cracks, tears streaming down her face. "That pendant is supposed to go to the person you love most, that's what Mom said, that's what Dad would have wanted. And you gave it to Maya and lied about it for months?"
"I didn't lie..."
"You just didn't tell me? That's the same thing! I'm your sister, she's my best friend. And you both decided I couldn't know?"
Jackson drops his bag and moves toward her cautiously. "We were going to tell you. After..."
"After? After what? After you proposed? After you got married? When exactly were you planning to let me in on this?"
"We were going to tell you after the playoffs, but then we decided to do it before they started, and then..." He trails off, running a hand through his hair. "Everything with the arrest happened, and you went into early labor, and it just—we both forgot. I know that sounds like bullshit, but it's the truth."
"So you thought lying was better?" She wipes her eyes. "I've been watching you two dance around each other for months, the looks, the tension, the way you can't be in the same room without gravitating toward each other. I thought I was going crazy. Turns out I was just being lied to." She lets out a bitter laugh. "And yeah, I get it, life gets in the way. Things happen. But you had months before any of that to tell me.Months.You just chose not to."
"Mommy crying!" Ethan's face crumples. "Mommy sad!"
